


Fear

by redskiez



Series: Stolen Moments [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Nightmares, One Shot, Short One Shot, T/ObiDei, TobiDei - Freeform, obidei
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28567134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redskiez/pseuds/redskiez
Summary: Tobi has a nightmare.
Relationships: Deidara/Tobi (Naruto), Deidara/Uchiha Obito
Series: Stolen Moments [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2073705
Comments: 1
Kudos: 66





	Fear

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd.
> 
> Happy New Year.

_**November 30th, 2007.** _

At first, he can’t see. He thinks his eyes are closed, but no matter how hard he tries to open them, nothing seems to have changed. Surrounding him is nothing but darkness, a kind of pitch black that is different from the shade he is accustomed to seeing in the waking world.

He can taste dust and dirt and earth in the air. It coats his throat—already as dry as it can be—the wrong way and he sputters out a cough. It hurts.

Tobi tries to move, but he finds that he cannot. Then, as his breath begins to quicken, he realizes that there’s a weight on his chest. Whenever he takes a deep breath, he can feel whatever it is pressing down on his chest.

He wiggles his fingers. His right arm is pinned, immobile. He feels nothing but a cold sensation, a soft trickle running from the top of his bicep to the inside of his elbow. The trickle then extends from his shoulder to the back of his neck, spreading like a cold fire that burns deep in his skin—down to his bones.

He can move his left arm, though it feels like he is pushing through thick, thick jelly. He can barely lift it before his arm falls back down, the sharp rocks that litter the ground shocking him with stinging pain.

Tobi flexes his legs. His left leg is in the same state as his arm, but his right leg does not respond at all. In fact, he can’t feel his right leg. For a moment, he wonders what that means for his future. A crippled shinobi? No one’s heard of that. Then, when he takes another sharp breath, he realizes that is the least of his worries.

The cold fire spreads from his neck to the back of his head, then it holds on to the right side of his face like a crocodile’s bite. All at once, everything comes to him and he understands then the reason why he cannot see.

Just like that, in the split moment between being lost in the limited limbo and the omniscient understanding, everything disappears again. He is no longer trapped under the boulder, and his life is no longer in danger.

But something rests heavy in his heart, telling him someone else’s is.

The scene appears before his eyes in a heartbeat, and he’s either running or he’s not. He can’t really tell. He just knows that he’s too far away and he can’t really do anything about it. He wants to get to wherever he is going faster, but there’s still that numbness in his right side.

The moment he gets close enough, he is already too late. Blood oozes from her wound and trails down his arm, then it falls onto the ground. Small, tiny droplets of blood merge together and turn into a pool, and from that pool sprouts a glistening, solid ruby rose.

Something slithers up his throat, and he chokes on it.

Her name slips him, but he must have been yelling it because his throat feels sore after. He must be crying, too, because his face is cold and wet.

He takes a step forward—but he doesn’t remember doing so—and then the scene changed again. It’s brighter now, and something deep in his mind tells him that twenty or so years have passed. His right side doesn’t ache anymore, and though he doesn’t move with a spring in his step, he doesn’t have trouble getting around either.

Everything else is a blur, but there’s a whisper of an apology and then something thick wraps around him and he struggles to breathe.

“It’s all happening again,” he thinks. He claws at his throat, then he finds himself on the ground. He crawls across the ashen forest floor, bits of burnt grass and trees litter the scorched dirt, but there’s no one there for him to hold.

He scrapes at the dirt—his gloved hands now bare—until his left hand’s fingertips start to smart. The dull pain that travels up his arm stops him, and he sits down on his heels, staring down at the blood smeared across his palm.

The pain from his hand disappears, then he feels the pain in his chest. He chokes on a sob again, and everything comes crashing down. Something claws at his heart and at his throat, and he cries at the pain of it all.

He’s in the dark again, the phantom weight of the rock on his chest forcing him to remain where he is. He is kneeling, head tilted up at the blood-red moon above him.

Someone is talking to him, but he can’t make out the words. It meshes from a gargled noise into a frantic sound, then it morphs into a word that he thinks he recognizes. It’s a word that will make him turn his head, but he doesn’t move.

He hears that word again, and again, and then his world begins to shake and crumble.

The ice fire comes back, licking at the base of his neck and wrapping itself around his head. It spreads deep into his head, sinking its flames into the deep recesses of his brain. The cold spreads further down until all he can feel is the shaking—the rocking.

Then, the ice breaks. A shattering sound that is both deafening and silent at the same time and only one word remains.

“Obito.”

Tobi gasps like a drowning man. The pillow beneath him is wet. He sits up from the bed and he crashes right into Deidara’s arms. Without thinking, Tobi draws Deidara in, burying his wet face into Deidara’s hair.

He smells like earth and dirt and clay. And Obito is no longer afraid.

**Author's Note:**

> Trying out something new. I am using a prompt that my coursemates have chosen as the basis of this piece, but I had planned one that revolves around a nightmare to begin with, so it still matches somewhat. I didn't start it with the intent of not including dialogue, but I think it works better like this since it's a nightmare and dreams tend to be fragmented and lack conversation, to begin with.
> 
> Hug a friend.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Follow me on [Tumblr](http://redskiez.net/) (redskiez.net) and I have a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/redskiez) as well. Please consider supporting me for what I do and buy me a coffee.


End file.
